Socceroos prevail 4-2 in shootout after 0-0 drawMat Ryan saves twice to book quarter-final spotAustralia stumbled into the Asian Cup quarter-finals after a gritty, but unconvincing penalty shootout victory over Uzbekistan in Al-Ain.Mat Ryan was the hero with a pair of wonderful penalty shootout saves, first down the middle and then to his right. Mathew Leckie then held his nerve to bury his penalty and send the Socceroos through to the last eight. Continue reading...

• Robson is one of only two scrum-halves in Six Nations squad• ‘Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can cement my place’For a sense of just how long overdue Dan Robson’s first England cap is, Dai Young’s explanation for taking him off in the latter stages of Wasps’ defeat by Leinster on Sunday is revealing. “I wouldn’t live with myself if he got a bump in the last 12 minutes.”Granted Wasps’ European campaign was long since over at the point Robson made way but Young is in the majority in thinking his scrum-half’s international debut ought to have come some time ago. It would probably have arrived last autumn, only for an ankle injury to rule him out of England’s entire campaign, but as one of only two scrum-halves in Eddie Jones’s Six Nations squad it will surely come against Ireland. Continue reading...

• German, 36, succeeds David Wagner after departure• Club announce arrival with ‘Martin from Wakefield’Twenty-four hours after he was catapulted to fame when he was mistaken for Huddersfield Town’s new head coach, Martin Warhurst was back in the limelight on Monday as the chief executive of the Martin House hospice in Wetherby helped to announce the appointment of his doppelganger, Jan Siewert.“Yes it’s Martin from Wakefield,” began Warhurst in a video released on social media by the club. “Oh you must have seen it? It was announced on Sky.” Continue reading...

After its grim end to 2018, Serie A returned from the winter break with an entertaining round of gamesThe crowd at San Siro was the smallest it had been for any game in this Serie A season, yet also perhaps the most uplifting. Inter’s match against Sassuolo was originally supposed to be played behind closed doors, as a punishment for racist abuse of Kalidou Koulibaly by supporters at the stadium last month. Club officials persuaded the footballing authorities to let them distribute 11,000 tickets to schoolchildren instead.They filled a part of the stadium’s lower tier, with the remaining seats covered over by gigantic banners upon which ‘BUU’ had been printed in various fonts. That spelling is used by Italian journalists to represent monkey noises directed at black players during games. Inter were inviting us to reinvent the letters as an acronym – to be written, not said – ‘Brothers Universally United’ against discrimination. Continue reading...

Right now, it’s not unrealistic to suggest Getafe’s well-travelled striker could contribute if he got the call to represent SpainJorge Molina set out in an old Seat 850, sitting proudly behind the wheel of a car that hadn’t come off the production line for 30 years and shuddered as it made its way down the road, so the journey was bound to take a while. It’s a long way from Alcoyano to Europe and the verge of the national team, after all, but he’s nearly there now. Looking up from the bottom of tercera division, the place where it all began around the turn of the century, 466 teams stand between you and the very top; looking up from the place where he and his team are this morning, almost 20 years on, long after he should have left, just five do. As for Molina himself, no one stands before him any more. That, at least, was the verdict of the Getafe fans this weekend.A qualified teacher with a degree in PE, coaching badges and his sporting director’s licence, the man teammates say seems shy but does a great impression of the boss, supporters reckon Jorge Molina is qualified to play for Spain too. Which perhaps they would, but that doesn’t make them wrong. As he departed on Friday night with Getafe on course for a 4-0 win over Alavés, first he was handed a standing ovation and then he was serenaded, a song starting, “Jorge, selección!” running around the Coliseum and welcomed by everyone except maybe the man himself. Asked about it afterwards, he blushed a little, smiled awkwardly, almost laughed and looked away, as if embarrassed. “Nah,” he said. “It’s nice, and I’m happy, but that’s all. Let’s be realistic: I’m of an age now …” Continue reading...

Maria Sharapova declared Ashleigh Barty could win the Australian Open after having her own title ambitions crushed by the big home hopeful.But a surly Sharapova was in no mood to answer questions about her controversial seven-minute toilet break between the second and third sets of her 4-6 6-1 6-4 fourth-round loss to Barty.The five-time grand slam champion was jeered by the Rod Laver Arena crowd after leaving Barty waiting, but Sharapova refused to answer whether or not the booing rattled her.The Russian also took exception to a question about her no longer being able to take meldonium, a drug she used for a decade before being suspended for 15 months after continuing to use the substance once it was banned by authorities.Sharapova&#39;s defeat, as well as the shock exit on Sunday of second seed and fellow former champion Angelique Kerber, has blown Barty&#39;s bottom half of the draw wide open.If the Australian can topple two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in Tuesday&#39;s quarter-finals, then she will face either Kerber&#39;s surprise conqueror Danielle Collins, unseeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or world No5 Sloane Stephens for a place in the title decider. Continue reading...

• Barça confirm forward’s arrival with €8m purchase option• Former Spurs and Portsmouth forward joins from SassuoloKevin-Prince Boateng has joined Barcelona in a shock move from the Italian side Sassuolo. The La Liga leaders have announced the arrival of Boateng on an initial loan deal with the option for an €8m (£7.05m) permanent move in the summer.Barcelona confirmed the forward’s arrival shortly after Boateng told reporters in Italy that the transfer was complete. The 31-year-old will sign his contract on Tuesday before a photo session and press conference at Camp Nou. Continue reading...

• Former England left-back links up with Frank Lampard• Manchester United’s Scott McTominay signs contract extensionThe former England defender Ashley Cole has joined Derby until the end of the season. The 107-cap left-back has linked up with his former Chelsea teammate and current Derby manager Frank Lampard at Pride Park. Related: Barcelona close to signing Kevin-Prince Boateng from Sassuolo Continue reading...

• ‘I’ve worked hard to educate myself’• Sampson was sacked by FA in September 2017The former England women’s coach Mark Sampson has apologised unreservedly to Eni Aluko and Drew Spence for remarks he made to the players while in charge of the national team.An inquiry, after the allegations had been published by the Guardian, by the independent barrister Katharine Newton found in October 2017 that Sampson had “on two separate occasions made ill-judged attempts at humour, which, as a matter of law, were discriminatory on the grounds of race” but added that “it was fundamentally important to emphasise that I have not concluded that MS is a racist”. Continue reading...